Volunteer responders had to winch a car from the notorious flooded ford at Watery Gate Lane.

Members of the Leicestershire and Rutland 4x4 Response group were alerted to the vehicle, a red Vauxhall Corsa which had ground to a halt in water two and a half feet deep.

The rescue was reported later in a tweet from the team at around 4.30pm on Thursday December 14 with the message: “Watery Gate Thurlaston Leics claims another victim.

"Why write your car off for sake of a few miles detour. This Corsa was pulled out by one of our responders today before it got washed away.”

The ford is notorious for trapping motorists who think their vehicles can cope with the water and despite clear signage warning of the dangers and highlighting the water depth.

Just six inches of water will reach the bottom of most passenger cars; this depth can cause loss of control or possible stalling as water is sucked into the exhaust or washes into the air intake.

A previous victim; even a van can't get through . Picture: Emu Reed

Many cars will start to float in as little as one foot of water - this can be extremely dangerous because as the wheels lose grip, you lose control.

Two feet of flowing water can sweep away most vehicles - including large four-wheel drive cars.

Hinckley watch commander Steve Moore has previously vented his frustrations at motorists who blindly follow their sat nav into the ford leading to prolonged call-out for fire fighters.

After one rescue he said: "The thing is if your sat nav tells you to drive off a cliff would you do it?

“The road closed signs are put there when the ford is flooded and you can see the depth of the water on the guide post.

“With all the rain over the last few weeks it is blatantly obvious the lane is basically a river. We are saying please be aware and do not attempt to drive through it. A tractor is probably the only thing which would make it.

“Because of the nature of the incident we had three appliances turn out on Thursday morning, that’s 14 firefighters. We could put these resources to better use elsewhere.”